Former WWE superstar and TNA wrestler Matt Hardy used Twitter and YouTube to trick fans into believing he committed suicide Tuesday night. Around 10:30 PM, Hardy posted a Twitter message that said, “GOODBYE…” and contained a link to a YouTube video of scrolling text that resembled a suicide note. The text read, “My time here is almost complete, I have only a few hours & minutes, I have loved you all.”

After Hardy posted the video, Moore County 911 dispatchers near his Cameron, NC home received around 30 calls about the alleged suicide attempt. Two officers visited Hardy’s home and discovered Hardy was fine.

The hoax drew massive criticism from Hardy’s Twitter following. Fans sent furious tweets all night that accused the wrestler of being immature and desperately seeking attention. In particular, Beth Britt, the wife of Matt Hardy‘s brother and former tag team partner Jeff, criticized the wrestler’s frequent ploys for attention. She tweeted sarcastic congratulations and added, “Everyone is talking about you, again. But it’s not in a good way.”

On August 20th, North Carolina police arrested Hardy for driving while impaired after crashing his 2009 Corvette into a tree. The arrest led to the wrestler’s termination from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, who had already suspended Hardy for arriving late for events. Since the arrest and termination, Hardy has used his Twitter and YouTube accounts to post cryptic messages and videos claiming he was reborn.

After the hoax discovery, Hardy posted Twitter messages claiming the video was not intended to suggest he was committing suicide. He claimed that he used the video to check who was paying attention and to communicate that he is a changed person, rebounding from his mistakes and going back to being the Matt Hardy everyone used to like.

One interesting aspect of the video is the date stated for Hardy’s implied suicide was August 31st, 2011 despite the video being posted on August 30th. The date August 31 is actually his brother Jeff Hardy’s birthday. It’s likely Matt wanted the hoax and fallout to draw attention from his brother. Jeff Hardy was a bigger star in both WWE and TNA Wrestling and it’s possible Matt Hardy’s jealousy led to this attention ploy to overshadow his brother.